David Field

While Britain's debt mountain has gone through the roof in the past year or so, passing the £1 trillion mark for the first time, it seems credit card companies are revelling in the opportunity to make more and more money out of us. And we seem almost as happy to accept the charges, given our continued penchant for living the high life on borrowed money.

British debt levels have soared, with a large proportion of the population seemingly happy to finance a comfortable lifestyle by paying for goods with money they have not yet acquired. This seems like a risky strategy and the figures bear such a cautionary view out. There are more people calling debt advice lines and filing for bankruptcy today than in recent years and the recent rise in interest rates has not helped many people.

Also, the demise of the rate tart, with fewer lenders offering zero per cent balance transfer deals, means life is getting increasingly tough for spendaholics.

But are the credit card firms helping us out? Not a bit of it. Instead, they seem to be finding more unusual and novel ways of squeezing more money out of us.

A year ago, the Office of Fair Trading announced new guidelines preventing credit card companies from charging the £25 administration fees that had come to be seen as standard practice. Not to be outdone, credit card firms appear to be searching out new ways to deliver blows on the collective British purse.

For example, it has now been revealed that some credit card operators are charging as much as £12 to customers who change address without informing the credit card company. Royal Bank of Scotland companies, NatWest, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Mint, will all be charging the fee from next month, demonstrating how firms look to squeeze money out of their customers.

Nick White, at personal finance website uSwitch, has highlighted the issue of credit card companies taking money from their customers. He commented: "Since the OFT clampdown last April, credit card companies have gone absolutely crazy clawing back money in any way they can. The question is, where will it end?"

And this is only one example of the problem. A uSwitch report found that it can often be more prudent to own two credit cards - one for at home and one for abroad. This is because while a card that is ideal for your home conditions may in fact charge considerable sums for you to purchase items when on holiday. So in effect, in some cases it can actually be cheaper to have two credit cards!

It is therefore clear that the credit card market can be a minefield, particularly for those new to the sector. Indeed, there is increasing concern about how young people will cope in the future, as so many of them are now habitually getting into debt. Reading the small print is critical before agreeing to take out a credit card - as well as remembering what you want the card for and how it will fit in with your lifestyle.